Man arrested after stabbing pit bull dog

Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Palm Coast man early Tuesday evening and charged him felony animal cruelty after deputies said he stabbed a pit bull dog to death.

Richard Marier, 68, of 29 Ballenger Lane, a former Flagler County School Board member, told deputies that at around 5:58 p.m., the neighbor’s pit bull charged toward him and his dog, “Breenie”, a Shiba Inu.

Marier said the pit bull grabbed his dog by the throat and began viciously shaking it. Deputies said Marier produced a spring-loaded knife, longer than three inches, and stabbed the dog five times.

Marier was elected to the school board in 1994. He served one-term and was defeated in his 1998 re-election bid.

The five-year-old pit bull’s owner, Carlos A. Matos Jr., said his dog “Lala” did run out of the door of his home at 36 Ballenger Lane. Matos said he called the dog back and the animal paused at the swale. Matos stated his dog approached Marier and Breenie “as if to sniff”; but denies his dog ever lunged at the two.

A witness told deputies he observed Lala run from inside the home, but didn’t see her attack Marier’s dog.

Deputies said Breenie had no injuries or bite marks.

Marier was additionally charged with carrying a concealed weapon in the commission of a felony. He was booked into the Flagler County Inmate Facility and released after posting $6,500 bond.